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Abraham Lincoln

1862-1864 Part 3

1861-1865 - In the White House, Assassination

The election of 1864 was widely considered by many as
a referendum on the Civil War. Were Lincoln to be re-elected,
the Union campaign would continue uninterrupted. However, should
Lincoln suffer a defeat, the Union's authority would be seriously undermined
with its commander-in-chief toppled by an unsupportive electorate.

As the election approached, Lincoln's chances of success
looked slim for several reasons. For one, with Grant entrenched
outside of Petersburg and Sherman entrenched outside of Atlanta,
the Union armies were making little progress at the expense of
heavy casualties. In addition, Lincoln had to endure the embarrassment
of a French-backed occupation of Mexico, when Napoleon III set
up the Archduke Maximillian as Emperor in the spring of 1864 in
a blatant violation of the Monroe Doctrine. However, with American forces
engaged in the Civil War, Lincoln was helpless to strike back, and
the French would hold Mexico until after the war's conclusion.

Struggling at home and faltering abroad, doubt swirled
as to whether Lincoln would even be re-nominated by the Republicans.
In February of 1864, Senator S. C. Pomeroy of Kansas had issued
a circular recommending the nomination of Secretary of Treasury Chase
over Lincoln. This breakaway factionalism led to the resignation
of the increasingly truculent Chase from his cabinet post. However,
Lincoln did not begrudge his rival, and appointed Chase as Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court upon the death of Taney in December
of the same year.

Amidst echoes of revolt, a convention of dissident Republicans met
in Cleveland at the end of May, eventually shifting their support
from Chase to General Fremont. Fremont, the initial Republican
candidate of 1856, and a staunch abolitionist, had seen early successes
during the Civil War in western theater, where his emancipation
of slaves in Missouri had been repealed by Lincoln. The Radical
Republicans, displeased with Lincoln's mysteriously effective combination
of moderate politics and a dictatorial style, saw Fremont as a
leader who, unlike Lincoln, would support a stern plan for reconstruction.
However, a month before the election, when Fremont realized that
running as a third candidate would likely hand a victory to the
Democrats, he withdrew from the race. In so doing, he left Lincoln
with a much clearer chance at re-election.

In a show of solidarity, the Republicans combined with
the so-called War Democrats to form the National Union Party, which nominated
Lincoln for president at a convention held in Baltimore on June
8. To balance the interests of this makeshift party, leading War
Democrat and Acting Military Governor of Tennessee Andrew Johnson
was nominated for vice president.

For their part, the Democrats convened on August 29 in
Chicago, on Lincoln's home turf. To oppose him, they nominated
General McClellan on a platform of negotiated peace. But one week after
being nominated, McClellan accepted without embracing the party
platform. In this manner, the Democrats hoped to broaden their
electoral base, winning anti-war votes on the strength of their
platform, and anti-Lincoln votes on the strength of McClellan's record.

In the late summer and early autumn of 1864, many Republicans publicly
voiced their fears that the misfortunes of war would prevent Lincoln's
re-election. On August 23, Lincoln himself circulated a secret
memo in which he expressed a pessimistic stance toward his chances
for victory in November. With the costs of living skyrocketing
and a highly unpopular second draft of 500,000 men about to go
into effect, such reservations were perhaps not unfounded.

As Union forces continued to stagnate in their siege positions,
the Confederacy ran intermittent raids on towns such as Frederick, Maryland
and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Such attacks were in part assisted
by a secret society of Confederate sympathizers known as the "fifth
column." Also known as Peace Democrats, or Copperheads, these anti-war
Northerners were led by prominent politicians such as Governor
Horatio Seymour of New York and Congressman Clement Vallandigham
of Ohio. Although their exploits never amounted to much, their
function as a hostile bloc to Lincoln's aims was plain to see.

Under critical assault from all sides, Lincoln was encouraged
by many of his closest advisers to postpone election in the interest
of the war effort. Lincoln rejected this proposal without a second thought,
explaining that "we cannot have free government without elections;
and if the rebellion could force us to forego or postpone a national
election, it might already fairly claim to have conquered and ruined
us."

Then, just when Lincoln's support seemed to be at its
lowest, the Union forces came through with a series of brilliant
successes to bolster his position. Admiral Farragut captured the
port of Mobile, Alabama in early August, strengthening the Union
grip on Confederate naval operations. One month later, General
Sherman finally broke through the Confederate lines, seizing the
city of Atlanta and evacuating all civilians.

Further north, Union General Phil Sheridan pushed the
Confederates out of the Shenandoah Valley, destroying all private
property that could be made use of by the Confederates. By October,
the rebels in Virginia were strictly confined to their defense
of Richmond. Although Grant continued to lay in wait at Petersburg,
the victories of his supporting cast came as a much-needed assertion
of Union dominance.

On the strength of these positive developments, a groundswell
of support built up behind Lincoln in the weeks leading up to the
election. Suddenly, the Democratic platform of a negotiated peace
was rendered a nonsense, and Lincoln rode the renewed confidence
in his war program to a resounding victory. With only a single
opponent to contend with, Lincoln won a clear popular majority of
over 400,000 votes, and completed a virtual clean sweep of the
electoral college, out-polling McClellan by 212 votes to 21.

As commander-in-chief, Lincoln was able to control an
uncertain election to some extent. Nevada was admitted to the
Union only a week before the election, as a safety set of votes
should Lincoln need them in the electoral college. Regarding the
popular vote, extensive provisions were made for soldiers to vote
at front, and whole regiments were given leave to return home to
the polls. Proclaiming their confidence in his command and acting
as a key bloc of voters across the country, the military vote went
strongly in favor of Lincoln.

Once Lincoln's re-election was secure, the Union kicked
their endgame into gear, launching an all out assault of total
warfare. Sherman and his forces left Atlanta burning in their wake
and embarked on a cataclysmic march to the sea, laying waste to
a wide swath of the Georgia countryside as they went. After five
surreal weeks of pillaging and looting, accompanied by deserters
and hangers-on of various stripes, Sherman arrived at Savannah
on December 13, capturing a Confederate fort there before joining
up with the Union's naval blockade.

Following Sherman's lead in the western theater, Confederate forces
led by General John Bell Hood made a quixotic march-and-fight push
north all the way to Nashville, where they were finally defeated
in December. Meanwhile, having accomplished his mission in the
deep south, Sherman turned his attention back toward the home front.
Upon the new year, Sherman marched north through South Carolina,
burning his way through the state. Union reprisals were especially
merciless, given South Carolina's role as the instigator of secession.
The capital city was burned to the ground in mid-February, and
in March Sherman entered North Carolina, rejoining Union forces
at the coast later that month.

In the opening months of 1865, several armistice discussions took
place. Lincoln found himself in no mood to negotiate, however,
and talks with the rebels were repeatedly dropped. Instead, Lincoln
spent a fortnight on the front with Grant, and met together with
Grant and Sherman in late March to discuss peace terms.

By this time, the possibility of a complete surrender
loomed quite large for the Confederacy. Their final desperate
attempt to defend Richmond ultimately collapsed on April 2, when
Grant pushed through the line at Petersburg. The next day, with
Richmond burning, Davis and other Confederate leaders fled south.
Meanwhile, Lincoln marched victoriously through the ruined city.

Less than a week later, Lee would surrender to Grant at
a small farm near Appomattox Court House in south central Virginia.
Lincoln had given Grant the authority to provide generous terms
of surrender, which Lee graciously accepted. There would be little
talk of such things as war criminals or executions: a remarkable
occurrence in the aftermath of a such a bloody civil war. In just
under four years of fighting, a combined 200,000 men were killed
in battle, and half a million others died of various diseases.
And yet, after all these casualties, the most profound loss to
the nation was yet to come.